The Stanley Cup and My Continuing Pursuit of Riding in 50 States

The Stanley Cup Gamewatch

I have been back in Maryland since late Wednesday night but just getting a chance to sit down and make a new post.  Between Tuesday and Wednesday, I spent 24 hours in the car driving back from Kansas.  I got home Wednesday night at 1 a.m., and on Thursday my daughter and I were downtown by noon.  They changed the process for getting into the gamewatch.  You had to attend the women’s professional basketball game in the arena at 3 p.m. that afternoon in order to be in there that evening for the gamewatch.  Needless to say we went down early to make sure we got in.  The experience at the gamewatch for Game 5 was terrific….just like being at the game except that everyone was watching it on the screen rather than on the ice.  When we were outside waiting to go in, my daughter got interviewed by a reporter for the local TV station about carrying my wife’s jersey and the picture Marci had of herself and my wife from many years ago, both of them in their Caps jerseys.  It’s a short clip….if you want to see it, it is at: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/caps-mom_Washington-DC-484896671.html

We spend the whole game holding my wife Dot’s jersey, cheering, groaning when the Caps fell behind at the end of the second period, and then rejoicing when in a three minute span around the middle of the third period they came from behind to take a one goal lead with 7 ½ minutes to go. 

It was the longest 457 seconds I’ve ever experienced.   Everyone around us had asked about Dot’s jersey and when the Caps finally won after rejoicing, everyone around us gave us warm hugs.  They all knew how special being there was for us.

In the arena that night, we were not the only ones with tears pouring down our cheeks when they won!  Out on the street afterwards it was one big celebration.  People were just coming up and shaking hands and hugging total strangers.  It was amazing that with as big of a crowd as there was, there was absolutely no trouble—the DCPD said there was a grand total of one arrest that evening.  It was a wonderful time, and both Marci and I, besides being happy to have been there with 18,000 others to cheer on the Caps, took great comfort in having made good on the promise to my wife that she would be there when the Caps went to the Stanley Cup finals.

The Pursuit of Riding in all 50 States

So where does this leave my pursuit of riding in all 50 states?  I had hoped that when I spent the night in Illinois across from St. Louis, I would have time to take a ride a couple of miles to the bicycle bridge across the Mississippi River to the Missouri side, thus getting the two states I decided to skip while leaving the tour early.  However, I realized that to wait until late morning to leave for Maryland would have me driving into the middle of the night.  I had also originally planned that after leaving the tour at Champaign, I would drive to Iowa City, Iowa to ride there, then go to South Bend to ride a trail from Indiana up into Michigan and back to get those three states.

In early August I will be going to Cleveland to see my daughter Marci compete in the National Triathlon Age-Group Championships.  I intend in conjunction with that trip to also drive to get the five states that I was originally going to get this week.  I’m still making those plans, and the plans to head south for the Hotter N Hell Hundred in Texas in August.  On that trip I hope to do rides in Tennnessee, Arkansas, Lousiana and Mississippi so that I reach 39 states.

Although this summer’s trip is over, I’ll continue to use this blog to write about my quest to ride in all 50 states, which I hope to complete by my 70^th birthday in August 2020.  I’ll probably finalize plans for the August Midwest trip sometime next month and will tell you about them here.

Meanwhile, I took my first ride today after getting home--a modest 25-miler.  I'll finally close out my Stanley Cup activities on Tuesday when I go downtown for the celebration parade and rally.  Until then....

We Won the Cup!  We Won the Cup!

Bruce

Final Day--I Bike (to) Ike

Today was a perfect day for a ride of 65 miles from McPherson to Abilene, KS, the home of President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)!   It was overcast with the wind out of the Southeast.  For the first 22 miles we headed east, but the wind was negligible enough not to be a factor.  Then after we turned north, the wind picked up and was a nice tail wind.  There were a few sprinkles late morning and some very heavy looking weather to the west, but the thunderstorms that looked like they might blow in, never materialized.

Everything in Abilene centers around Ike, and on entering town I made a stop at the Eisenhower Center.  There was a film about his life which talked about how well respected and caring he was, and of course how competent he was as both a general and as President.  Quite a bit of the time was spent on his leadership of the allied military in WWII and the D-Day invasion.   My father took part in D-Day so seeing film from that day meant a lot t o me.  The discussion of Eisenhower’s ability as a consensus builder and of his general “goodness” presented quite a contrast when viewed in light of someone else who now occupies Ike’s old position.

After stopping at the Eisenhower center, I rode through town to the Holiday Inn Express on the north side.  This is home for two nights  for tour members. If you’ve been following this blog you know that the Capitals march to the Stanley Cup has presented something of a conundrum for me. Abilene unfortunately is a wasteland when it comes to rental cars.  The nearest car rentals are in Salina, 30 miles away.  My hope had been to wait and see what the Caps do tonight so that I’d know whether or not Thursday’s game watch at the Capital One Arena could be the decisional game.    However, due to the logistical challenge of arranging to get to Salina, there’s no way to wait until the morning to decide whether to head back to Maryland or not.  Also, if the Capitals lose tonight so that Thursday night will not be a decisional game, I’d still only get to ride one more day….Wednesday…if I postponed my departure. So I will be heading back tomorrow. 

If you aren’t sure why it’s so important to me to be back to see a Caps Stanley Cup Final game at the arena on the screen, I told part of the story in this earlier post.  But the underlying story is that my wife Dot was an avid Capitals fan since the first year of the team in 1974/75.  She had a Caps jersey with her name on...I got it for her in 1975 during the first year...and she wore it to every Caps game she ever went to.  The one time the Caps were in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, we were living in Texas and after 24 years of waiting could not get to any of those games.  When we moved back to Maryland in 2003, Dot said that if the Caps ever made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, she wanted me to promise that we’d go.  Of course I said yes, but she died in 2011 before ever getting to see her Caps go beyond the second round.  Now to honor the promise made to her 15 years ago and in her memory, it is so important to us that we go to the Capital One Arena, even for a Game Watch for the game in LasVegas, and to bring Dot’s Capitals jersey so the promise is fulfilled.   It may sound silly to you as you read this.  And you may not understand why it is so important that I do this.  But it is very important and meaningful.

Here's today's data:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1617480947

https://www.relive.cc/view/1617480947 
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2752484756

So now that my bike trip has come to an end, here’s the totals for my nine days of riding:

9 rides
686.44 miles (avg 76.3 miles per ride)
25.95 hours on the bike
13.7 miles per hour average
12,220 feet of climbing (1,357 feet per ride)
40.9 mph maximum speed
4 States ridden (NM/TX/OK/KS)  1 flat (while the bike was standing still under a tree at the SAG stop on the first day)

Thanks for following this blog. I hope you’ve all enjoyed following along.  Do I wish I would have continued on for the additional days I had originally planned?  Of course.  But, even more, I wish that I had not had such a lack of faith in the Capitals so that I would have done what I did two years ago—schedule a ride that had no chance of conflicting with the Stanley Cup Finals.  But going back tomorrow is part of keeping a promise made 15 years ago to the lady I was married to for 37 years, and my companion who I have missed terribly for the last seven years. Making good on that promise to her by sitting in the Capital One Arena with my daughter Marci who has taken her mom's place watching the Caps, while holding her jersey will be one of those very meaningful moments in my life (although I'll admit that after 43 years of suffering with the Caps, seeing them in the Stanley Cup Finals in their home arena, will make me happy too!)

Finally, as I head back to the DC Area….Let’s Go Caps!

Day 8--An Easy Ride to McPherson

In contrast to yesterday, today was a very nice Sunday ride.  Winds were light and variable for most of the 65 mile, relatively straight, flat ride from Great Bend to McPherson (pronounced Mack-fir-sun…not Mack-feer-son).  After yesterday’s epic struggle, today there was a reemergence of the saddle sore issue, but it seems somewhat under control tonight.  Tomorrow is another65 mile ride.  Winds are supposed to be out of the south so the first half of the ridewill have a crosswind from the right as we head east, and then a tailwind (Hooray!) going north to Abilene…birthplace of President Eisenhower.

Today the camera never came out of my handlebar bag, and there was really just typical Kansas scenery—farms, fields and pretty straight US56 rolling up and down the minor hills.

So let me instead of making another attempt at a daily travelog, let me use today’s blog to give a brief description of what the typical day is like on the tour.  Departure for the slower riders is at 7 a.m., with the faster riders 30 minutes later.  That means the day usually starts around 5-5:30 to get dressed for the day, pack the two bags (gym bag size) that the tour operator limits each rider to having (I find it very difficult to live within those confines, but that’s the way it is.  By departure time everyone has their bags downstairs, their bike ready (the tour operator has several pumps so everyone can put air in their tires before heading out).  At a few minutes to 7 the tour leader goes through a quick discussion of the route for that day, and then we leave. 

 

There are about 30 riders on the tour with about half in the early group, half in the late group.  Within each group the riders just naturally split into smaller groups based on speed, who each one wants to ride with, and just how the day is going.  Just because a person rides with one person at the start doesn’t mean they’ll stay together all day.  There have been plenty of days where I’ll head out with a small group (especially the windy days where I want to ride with others in a “pace line” to deal with the , wind), but after awhile either fall behind, go ahead, etc. 

Depending on the distance for that day, Crossroads sets up one, two or three SAG stops where riders must stop, even if only briefly, so everyone’s progress can be noted.  At the SAG’s you can get water, Gatorade, snacks, fruit, and other things to snack on to keep you going.  When possible the SAG’s are set up in the parking lot of a store or restaurant so that riders can use the restrooms.  Riders must report in and out so that staff can write down arrival and departure times for everyone so that they always have a rough idea of where everyone is.  The daily cue sheet given to each rider, in addition to the SAG stops, also tells riders where there are convenience stores or other places that might be useful for stopping.

The tour operator has several staff in vehicles and they circulate up and down the roads we are traveling on so that we can reach out if we need something, and so that they can get an idea of where everyone is.  Their idea of having the staggered starts is to try and have the riders stretched out over as short of an area as possible during the day’s riding.  The staff is in constant touch with each other via radio.  All of the riders have the cellphone numbers of the staff members, and there is a signal that a rider can give a passing staff vehicle to let them know that help is needed.

Depending on how long of a ride the day is, some riders may make a stop for lunch during the day (breakfast  and dinner is included….lunch is now).  On a shorter ride like today, when the hotel rooms are usually not available yet on our arrival, there are usually places to go eat lunch nearby.  Today many riders ended up having lunch at the nearby Braum’s which is well known for their ice cream and their grill.

One of Crossroads’ features is that before they give out hotel room keys they deliver the riders’ bags to their rooms. Dinner is via one or another arrangement—sometimes we eat at 6:00 p.m.as a group when dinner is brought into the hotel.  Otherwise, when we go to a restaurant adjacent to the hotel and order from the menu, we have a window—usually 5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m—to go eat.  Every couple of days people try to use the guest laundry facilities during the afternoon or evening.  Most people tend to go to bed a bit earlier than normal since ours days start early. 

So the next day it’s “go to the top of this post and repeat.”

Here’s the data from today’s ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1615416889

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2749720208

https://www.relive.cc/view/1615416889

After tomorrow’s ride, Tuesday is a rest day in Abilene, Kansas.  Depending on what the Capitals do in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs tomorrow night, Tuesday may be my day to head home so that Marci and I can go to the Game 5 game watch at the Capital One Arena on Thursday night when the Caps could win the Cup.  The game itself is in Las Vegas.  If you don’t understand why I might end my tour early, go back to the May post entitled “Do bicycling and the Stanley Cup really mix?” for the full rationale.

Thanks for reading.

Bruce

Day 7--Why Was Today's Ride So Long?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind!  And it sure blew today…20-30 mph sustained winds with higher gusts.  For the first 25 miles it was a cross wind that blew us around on the shoulder.  Then it slowly moved around to come out of the East as a wicked headwind.  And it never stopped blowing.  Today’s ride was a real slog for everyone because of the wind.  It was tough physically.  It was tough mentally.  In fact for me, except for the rides two years ago on the tour when I was fighting bronchitis, this was the physically most difficult ride I ever remember.

Since it took a tight hand on the handlebar today I only had a chance to shoot two pictures—the “halfway between New York and San Francisco” sign in Kinsley, Kansas, and a shot to show how hard the wind was blowing.  That grass is horizontal from the wind!  It was indeed a windy day.  One that I hope is not repeated on this tour!

As usual, here is the excruciating data from today’s ride.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/1613192

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2747125834778

But now onto more important things.  Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.  Let’s Go Caps!

Day 6--The Dalton Gang, Wyatt Earp and Boot Hill

Today’s ride certainly had an “old west” theme to it.  After leaving Liberal (were there ANY Liberals in the old west? Or the new west for that matter?),  we headed east for 30 miles.  The views looked like what you think of when you think of Kansas.  Farmland.  Some rolling hills. 

I watched for a few minutes while a crop duster flew his plane back and forth over a farm on the other side of Highway 54 (we’ve been riding US54 now since Tucumcari in New Mexico). 

There was a roadside marker about an Indian ambush of some surveyors in the 1870's. 

Then our first sag stop in Meade, Kansas brought us to the Dalton Gang hideout.  Certainly the Dalton gang could not have kept a low profile with all the cyclists that were hanging around there today! 

After heading east and having to contend with a pretty strong crosswind from the south, we turned at Mineola, Kansas.  Now instead of a crosswind, we had 20 miles of straight tail wind as we pedaled up US283 toward that famous town of Dodge City.  Our hotel was located off of Wyatt Earp Boulevard.  Before we got there off to the right was the Boot Hill Museum, the rehabbed old western street scene featuring among other buildings, the Long Branch Saloon!  There’s also an old steam engine to commemorate Dodge City’s railroad heritage. 

 

 

And of course you are probably familiar with the old saying “Get theheck out of Dodge.”  Well the city has twisted that around a bit and when we checked into the hotel we got a bag of Dodge City promotion items that carry the slogan “Get the heck out of into Dodge.”  There’s so much western motif that even the room numbers in the hotel look like something out of the old west.

Today was a tough 81 mile ride, except for those last glorious 20 miles.  The first 30 miles weren’t bad; the next 30 had the crosswind; the last 20 had the tailwind; and it was almost 100 degrees!  It’s going to be hot again tomorrow when we have another 80+ to Great Bend, Kansas.

Here’s today’s data. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/1610724901

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2744263050

See you tomorrow night.  If tomorrow’s post doesn’t appear until Sunday evening, you’ll know my writing was preempted by watching Game3 of the Stanley Cup Finals!  Let’s Go Caps!

Bruce